Hearts of Sand(33)

“It’s still owned by the Waring family?”

“Owned, but not occupied,” Jack Mann said. “The parents up and moved away less than a year after Chapin disappeared. The impression I get talking to people is that they couldn’t stand it. People were always coming around, invading their privacy.”

“And the parents are now—?”

“Dead,” Jason Battlesea said.

“And the house still isn’t sold. And nobody lives in it.”

“There are three other sisters,” Mike Held said. “Caroline lives right here in town. She and her husband have a place over in the Sheepwoods section of town. The other two—”

“Charlotte and Cordelia,” Jack Mann said.

“Right,” Mike said, “Charlotte and Cordelia. They’re not local anymore. I think one of them lives in Chicago, but I’m not sure.”

“And the house has never been up for sale?”

“Not that I know of,” Jason Battlesea said.

“Well,” Gregor said, “did you ever ask yourself why?”

The three men looked nonplussed.

“But aren’t you doing the same thing?” Mike Held asked. “Aren’t you just concentrating on the old crime? I mean, okay, they kept the house like that all these years and it’s really odd, but isn’t the reason they did that something having to do with the older crime?”

“Maybe,” Gregor said. “But unlike reports of the witness statements of the bank robberies, it’s also something that has an immediate relevance to this crime. Chapin Waring was found dead in her family’s home, which has been maintained—has it been maintained?”

“If it hadn’t been, there would have been complaints from the rest of Beach Drive,” Jason Battlesea said. “I’ve driven by that place dozens of times, and the lawns always look really great.”

“What about inside the house?” Gregor asked.

“Oh, that looks really great, too,” Mike Held said. “Except for the stuff that was shot up when the murder happened. Or maybe later.”

“Do you know if the murder actually occurred in that house?” Gregor asked. “Do you know if Chapin Waring was stabbed there?”

“No,” Mike admitted.

“But you do know she had a gun?” Gregor tried to sound encouraging.

“She had a gun in her hand when the body was found,” Jack Mann said.

“And that doesn’t set off alarm bells in your heads?” Gregor asked.

“Alarm bells about what?” Mike Held asked.

“Well,” Gregor said, “here’s a woman who has been stabbed in the back. But she also has a gun in her hand. If somebody was trying to kill her, why didn’t she shoot?”

“She did shoot,” Jack Mann said. “She shot up the entire living room. She shot a bunch of holes in this big mirror. She took out most of a really huge chandelier.”

“Those were all bullets from the gun she was holding?”

“They were,” Mike Held said, “so maybe she was shooting at the person who stabbed her. Maybe that person snuck up behind her when she didn’t know he was there—or she was there—and then she turned around and tried to get them with the gun.”

“Okay,” Gregor said, “that’s not entirely implausible, but I don’t like it much. We have to presume she knew she was in a place where she was at least potentially in danger. I’d think she’d be on her guard. But let that pass for the moment. What time of day was the body found?”

“It was at night,” Jason Battlesea said. “Maybe nine o’clock at night.”

“And when she was found, she was dead? Do you know how long she’d been dead?” Gregor asked.

“You know better than that,” Jason Battlesea said. “This isn’t CSI. We can’t pull magic out of our hats.”

“You can usually tell if a body is a couple of minutes or a couple of hours cold,” Gregor said. “There’s nothing wrong with the state medical examiner’s office, is there? Isn’t that Henry Lee?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the medical examiner’s office, no,” Jason Battlesea said. “We must have all this information somewhere. I’m not sure why we didn’t send it to you. Why don’t we sit down and go through the computer files and see what we can find.”

“Didn’t you say the first person on the scene was a uniformed patrolman?” Gregor asked.

“Patrolwoman,” Mike Held said.

“I want to talk to her,” Gregor said.

“Of course,” Jason Battlesea said. “She’s—what, she’s still on night duty? She ought to be coming in around six.”